Cristobal Cobohttp://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo
Oxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordThu, 22 Nov 2018 20:10:36 +0000en-GBhourly1UNESCO Report: How do you educate in learning to decode the unknown? (Plan Ceibal in Uruguay)http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/2018/11/22/unesco-report-how-do-you-educate-in-learning-to-decode-the-unknown-plan-ceibal-in-uruguay/
Thu, 22 Nov 2018 20:03:22 +0000http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/?p=1176Today we release a report we prepared for the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) the evaluation of this education and technology public policy initiative was elaborated for the serie Current and Critical Issues in Curriculum, Learning and Assessment (published in Ginebra, Suiza). Abstract: Plan Ceibal is a multi-stakeholder public policy programme in education and… Read More »]]>

Today we release a report we prepared for the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) the evaluation of this education and technology public policy initiative was elaborated for the serie Current and Critical Issues in Curriculum, Learning and Assessment (published in Ginebra, Suiza).

Abstract: Plan Ceibal is a multi-stakeholder public policy programme in education and innovation with an emphasis on the integration of pedagogy and technology in Uruguay. The following outline provides an overview of some of the most critical dimensions as well as methodological approaches pursued by Plan Ceibal, which are implemented in close collaboration with the whole education sector in the country. Some of these initiatives are not only implemented at a national level, but also in collaboration with a network of schools or education-oriented institutions throughout several countries (e.g. New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, Code.org, Design for Change).

As Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) aims to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (“inclusive and equitable quality education”), it faces several significant challenges: low student performance, poor teacher training, and high dropout rates. Students in the region spend 2.5 years less in school than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. Moreover, poor performance in standardized tests suggests that even students who finish their mandatory years of schooling struggle with the basic skills required to successfully enter the labour market.

Governments in the region have explored the use of educational technologies to address some of these challenges. Latin American ministries of education spent over $2 billion USD on digital devices to improve education since 2008. However, these investments have typically led to limited improvements in learning performance. There are many reasons for this, including devices that never get used, lack of integration into teacher’s pedagogical practices, limited accountability, and inconsistent monitoring and evaluation. For example, the LAC region spends about $80 billion USD a year on primary education, but since 1985 there are only 13 rigorous evaluations of programs to improve learning in math and language (*). The understanding of what works, when and how, is limited, compounded by the fast pace of technological change and limited regional expertise in understanding the impact of technology in education.

This initiative, coordinated by Centro Ceibal para el Estudio de las Tecnologías Digitales en la Educación (Centro Ceibal), a digital education research center located in Uruguay but with an international reach, aims to generate relevant policy knowledge to facilitate more inclusive, equitable and quality education through digital tools. More specifically, it will build a network of researchers and policy makers to produce knowledge and recommendations to inform policy and interventions in digital education. It will do so by testing, adapting and scaling promising digital innovations. It will also promote a culture of evidence-based policy making among government officials by strengthening research institutions and capabilities within government agencies. IDRC will invest CAD$ 1.3 million during the 3 years of the project, while Fundación Ceibal and ANII, the National Research and Innovation Agency of Uruguay (Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación) will be contributing 1.5 million USD during the same period to support solution-oriented knowledge on some of the issues identified by the project.

______________________________________________________________________________________
(*) To be included the evaluations had to comply with the following criteria: (I) were implemented in a primary school; (ii) they aimed to improve the learning of mathematics or language; (iii) the results were published after 1985; (iv) the treatment group was compared to the status quo; (v) the effects were measured at least 12 weeks after the start of the intervention; (vi) the effects were estimated using experimental evaluations, discontinuous regression, instrumental variables or differences in differences; (vii) the tests measured learning in content taught in both the treatment and control groups; (viii) the effects were measured using a continuous measure of learning; (ix) the sample included at least 200 students and 10 groups, such as schools, if the randomization was carried out at the group level; (x) the standard errors were computed by adjusting by clusters whether the randomization was carried out by groups (for example, schools); (xi) enough information was reported to calculate the effect sizes.

The G20is an international forum for the governments. Membership of the G20 consists of 19 individual countries plus the European Union (EU). The T20 provides research-based policy advice to the G20, facilitates interaction among its members and the policy community, and communicates with the broader public about issues of global importance. During the Argentine G20 presidency, the T20 will develop policy recommendations through 10 Task Forces. Here more information on these Task Forces.

Summary: Educational policy-making faces increasingly complex challenges for ensuring individuals acquire the skills and knowledge needed in a society shaped by automation, artificial intelligence and ICT. Technology-driven transformations are redefining the role of education, the value of knowledge and skills, along with the structure, institutions and mechanisms that have so far been used for raising human capital through formal instruction. In this context, non-formal learning, third-space literacies and alternative mechanisms for upskilling and certification are emerging throughout the world, aiming to secure employability and to prepare youth for entering a demanding and increasingly competing job market. The emergence of alternative educational opportunities raises diverse questions related to the future of formal education. Can these alternative forms of education be considered valid mechanisms to raise human capital? If non-formal mechanisms continue to expand, the role of the State in educational policy-making also needs to be reassessed. That includes dimensions such as regulation, certification, quality of non-formal education among others. The present paper aims to briefly reflect on the alternative models that have emerged during the past few years and some of their implications. The scope of the policy brief is to address the issues presented above in light of the challenges that formal education faces for bridging the gap between schooling, learning and employability and to provide recommendations across the main areas identified.

Bridges to the Future of Education: Policy Recommendations for the Digital Age. This book gathers educational policy documents published in the T20 Argentina process during 2018 within the framework of the Working Group “The Future of Work and Education for the Digital Era”. This production proposes recommendations oriented to the educational priorities established by the G20: 21st century skills development and education financing.

]]>New forms of (digital) inequalityhttp://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/2018/02/27/new-forms-of-digital-inequity/
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 21:05:11 +0000http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/?p=1136Read More »]]>
In the network society, the code is the new law.The intensive use of extensive volumes of data, retrieved from different sources, open new forms for understanding learners’ behavior. For instance, learning analytics can develop tools to identify common patterns of those students who are at risk of dropping out.

If an educational system has access to the students’ devices or to the network that they use at school, they could explore some of the following questions (assuming the skills, experience, tools, and permissions required are available): How socially intensive is their online learning experience? What can be learned from those individuals who are learning in a specific style (i.e. learning patterns)? What are the most effective technologies? What are the most effective pedagogical methods?

Developing regions are in an early stage regarding the proficient use of large-scale data to serve education. Although students and teachers from developing countries produce large-scale information they are not in conditions to exploit it for their own benefit. In the best scenario, they will need an external expert, in most cases from overseas, who can help analyze that information for their benefit. The challenges are not only technical but legal and ethical.

To avoid the creation of new gaps (informational and technical inequities), developing new capacities will be of utmost relevance. Since many of these challenges are not sufficiently addressed in the educational sector’s agenda there is a critical need to raise awareness and expand the levels of data literacy and transparency. It will be crucial to demand higher levels of accountability to the algorithms used to assess online learners or teachers’ performance. Creating committees and sub-regional agencies are needed to ensure that massive information is being used in a transparent and reliable manner but also used in ways that protect the learners, their privacy, and integrity.

]]>Call it innovation in education only if you can scale it uphttp://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/2018/02/03/1105/
http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/2018/02/03/1105/#commentsSat, 03 Feb 2018 21:00:38 +0000http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/?p=1105Read More »]]>[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luyjld9GfJI&w=700&h=400]

Recently I was invited to participate in the Education World Forum (EWF) that takes place every year in London. This is an initiative lead by the British government in partnership with a number of agencies and companies which are working in development and education initiatives. Although, I have participated earlier in this kind of Summit’s (WISE, IB, Learning@Scale, etc.) I felt that this was truly international with a remarkable presence of experts and policymakers from Africa, southeastern Asia and the Middle East.

After having attended the summit I can say that it was very inspiring to see how much of the discussions today are focused not only on increasing the access to education but also in raising the standards of quality in education. Certainly, the priorities and agendas vary across different countries. However, I saw a large number of experts emphasizing the importance of updating education (and the pedagogies), improving the quality of teaching, fostering the development of social-emotional (aka soft) skills and why not exploring better ways to prepare the coming generations for a complex and uncertain future.

One interesting information that was shared during the EWF was that the average period that ministries of education remain in their positions is only 22 months (!). That number resonated during the whole event. We all wondered, what on earth can you do for the education of a country in only 22 months? Especially if you are trying to impact at a large scale.

Before going on the stage to give my short (five minutes) presentation, some international agencies were emphasizing the actions needed for improving the quality of education. Both, the OECD (2015) and the World Bank (see 2018 report) were presenting reports addressing how weak has been the role of technology for improving the quality of education.

We have enough evidence to understand that there are no quick changes in education that happens overnight, real transformations are usually the result of systematic and long-term developments. Nevertheless, it’s also true that there are very interesting programs in the world of education and technology that are worth to look at. Most of which are rarely recognized or considered in large-scale comparative standardized evaluations (see Miguel Brechner presenting Plan Ceibal).

In this presentation, you will find a brief description of my experience leading a research institution focused on conducting research as well as providing fundings to build evidence-based knowledge from large-scale educational technology interventions.

In different moments of the 20th century, we have witnessed various trends in technology that promised to “revolutionize” education. Nothing can be more charming than watching children learning by themselves only with the use of technology. This techno-enthusiasm is connected with good intentions such as reducing inequalities, enhancing learning opportunities, enabling self and lifelong learning, etc. However, it is fair to say that the interest has also been driven by vendors and others interested in selling devices, content, software, connectivity, or simply, influence. Some examples can be found with the educational television, educational CD-Roms, smart boards, massive open online courses, and now, apparently through artificial intelligence. All of them are presented as “silver bullets” that in different moments have promised to transform the education sector.

Today, the education market is very big and the interest to improve education in every country is arguably one of the top priorities of any government (likewise many international organizations). Thus, what is at stake is far from insignificant.

After revising hundreds of research papers in the field, in a large number of cases, the adoption and use of education technology has mainly focused on technological deployment and not necessarily on the other dimensions that need to be taken into account when technologies land in classrooms. Therefore a large volume of research and public policy impact evaluations focus on the following question: What is the impact of technology in learning? Unfortunately, the other dimensions (e.g. social, organizational, political, and contextual factors) are rarely considered (or controlled) in these studies. As a consequence, the result that we see most often is that the deployment of new technologies by itself does not lead to a clear impact in learning outcomes. Even worse, there are a number of studies that show that large exposure to digital technologies without support and guidelines might lead to worse performance results versus those who do not use it at all.

We may ask ourselves why it is so difficult to identify the impact of technology as a driver for change. How can these tools help us transform educational systems that resist embracing the transformations required in the current century? As Clay Shirky rightly says, “A revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new tools. It happens when society adopts new behaviors”. This is probably one of the most relevant reasons to explain why it is so difficult to see radical transformations only within the field of education technology.

After having worked with dozens of countries in this field, I suggest taking into account at least five critical dimensions before planning the implementation of education technology or when preparing an assessment of the impact of these tools.

1. Providing pre-established educational content will be less relevant than facilitating and promoting their connection and combination with different sources of knowledge and information (within and outside the educational program or curriculum).

2. When transitioning to new technology, learning how to teach with technology regardless of the context is pivotal. Digital and peer based pedagogies are a good starting point.

3. Understanding that traditional divisions of knowledge are not suitable within the digital landscape. It is critical to develop new ways of thinking such as network literacy, computational thinking, collaborative problem-solving, inquiry based learning, among other multi-literacies.

4. If you want to understand the role of technology, you can’t keep using the old fashioned instruments to assess learning. Keep in mind that digital devices go beyond disciplines, contexts and ages. It is necessary to be equally innovative in the adoption and creation of instruments for assessing new forms of learning. This also applies to adopting alternative forms for recognizing informal learning.

5. Learning happens all the time and everywhere (even if we don’t know how to measure it). The use of education technology at home differs from that in the classroom. It is necessary to overcome physical limitations of formal learning. Today’s learning can take place anywhere, anytime and almost with anybody. So the best cognitive tool that educational systems can develop is learning how to explore new questions at an individual and collective level regardless of the environment.

In any case, I am optimistic in the long run. We are confident that we will finally learn that we have to innovate not only in the adoption of devices but also in the assessment of new forms of learning. We also envision that sooner rather than later that the education system will keep moving from an encyclopedic to a more flexible system focused on critical thinking, promoting multi-literacies as well as social-emotional skills. We hope that a new generation of decision-makers will resist the temptation of relying only on artificial intelligence and other new gadgets and will help design long-term innovations in their education systems that can be seriously future-proof.

This presentation summarizes some of the key trends in the changing ecosystem of higher education. Rather than a particular adoption of certain technology, a novel certificate or a new business model, what we explore is how the disintermediation of education is changing the boundaries, strategies and infrastructure of universities. The complex phenomena of ‘uberization’ of education offer new opportunities as well a number of deep redefinitions. What is clear is learners are in charge and education institutions are invited to re-think some of their traditional strategies.

“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run” (Amara’s law)

At least during the last ten years (roughly since the launching of the OLPC initiative world wide), several analysts tended to over rate the expectations of educational technologies in education ignoring their middle and long-term impacts. After short-term technological deployment in most of the cases providing a laptop with no connectivity, without or with only limited teacher training the impact evaluation found little or no impact of technology in education. As known, technology alone hardly can make any difference.

It is important to keep in mind that the time plays a critical factor in the assessment of the long-term impact of technology in education policies. Educational technologies can make a difference when they transform the culture (e.g. interactions, conversations, language, behaviours) not only the performance. Most of those transformations might not be visible in the outcome of the learning when are analysed using international standardized test. However, the implications can be noted measuring other factors (i.e. school climate, self-motivation of learners, the quality of teacher-students interactions, opportunities for creativity, among others). More importantly, when educational technologies are deployed addressing not only the infrastructure but the learning ecosystem in a more comprehensive way there are opportunities to reduce other forms of inequalities. In other words, expanding the learning environments (of formal and informal learning settings) there are new opportunities that should be discussed deeper. This comment, far from suggesting that digital technologies provide any kind of silver bullet for education, they can become enabler platforms only when there is enough time, active participation of the community and flexibility to transform the culture of learning.

]]>University of the Future Network – Redefining knowledge in the Digital Agehttp://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/2017/07/10/university-of-the-future-network-redefining-knowledge-in-the-digital-age/
Mon, 10 Jul 2017 12:12:16 +0000http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/?p=1068The next ‘University of the Future Network’ meeting will be in Hagen (at theFernUniversität in Hagen), Germany (July, 2017). The topic of the meeting will focus on the issues of digitalization: “Universities of the Future: Digital Challenges – the international perspective”. As known, digitalization is gaining more and more relevance on the HiEd agenda, and… Read More »]]>

As known, digitalization is gaining more and more relevance on the HiEd agenda, and new challenges are taking place in several educational fields (not exclusively on the technological field). These issues are on the agenda in several countries and hence are relevant conundrums to be discussed within this network with regard to the ‘University of the Future’.

Why Hagen? FernUniversität in Hagen is the only state-maintained distance teaching university in the German-speaking countries and regions with currently over 76,000 students enrolled.

Here an excerpt of the work to be discussed*:

The digital era that started with the arrival of the Internet into our business, our higher education institutions, and our lives in one word, has dramatically changed the way we explore and produce knowledge. The possibility of instant access to multiple sources of information is transforming not only the way people access, produce and share knowledge, but also is pushing the agenda of knowledge certification and knowledge recognition out from the universities and college settings into other forms of knowledge recognition.

This text explores the impact of the Internet and digital media in the creation and production of knowledge at the start of the 21st century. The authors examine the complex but fascinating process of transition that higher education institutions (as any other institutions in our societies) are suffering triggered by the great influence that the digitalization of content has brought into our classrooms, our students, our faculty. This transition can be considered multidimensional since is happening simultaneously in a number of areas. The following lines will focus on what are considered some of the key drivers of this change, which aim to illustrate key aspects of this transition.

Decentralization and disintermediation.

Massiveness and a growing demand.

New forms of knowledge production.

New means of knowledge recognition.

1. Decentralization and disintermediation: The growing capacity of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as the expansion of portable devices, enhanced by the dropping of their cost and there increasing processing capacity, has made of this type of digital technology a social platform which is enabling a very intense flow and exchange of information (Becker et al., 2017). For the last decade, Internet has become a social sphere where communities can create and disseminate knowledge and information to others (C. Cobo, Scolari, & Pardo Kuklinski, 2011). This phenomenon has not only diversified the mechanisms of knowledge production but also it has brought deep implications into what was traditionally understood as valid knowledge (Keen, 2015). Similarly, this phenomenon has also has impacted in what some authors suggest as the end of the expertise monopoly that universities had for centuries (Nowotny, Scott, & Gibbons, 2003).

2. Massiveness and a growing demand: The access to higher education has significantly changed during the second half of the 20th century and beyond. After the second world war, those individuals who could access universities were part of the elite of their respective societies. In the 70s and 90s that situation changed into a larger portion of the society worldwide (with a growing demand of women to have access to university degrees) (Trow, 2000). However, due to globalization, the expansion of the Internet, and the interest for expanding the sector of knowledgeable workers, an unprecedented demand for higher education was developed. At the start of the 21st Century, the exponential demand for education cannot be fulfilled if we depend on the classic model of the 20th century University. Currently, the development of universities is not only observed in the growing volume of students but also by the number of years students are required to attend university to obtain a posgratudate degree. Without doubt, the growing adoption of technologies has also contributed to expand access to higher education through more flexible models for delivery. Moreover, access to the Internet has influenced the phenomenon of commodification of knowledge (where knowledge is used, produced, and managed as a product or when knowledge processes are commodified and mechanized) (Johansson, 2016).

3. New forms of knowledge production: the increasing connectedness and interdependence between societies in the 21st Century has impacted how knowledge is being produced: the creation of new knowledge happens in a much more distributed way. Nowadays, research can be elaborated by scientists or academics who are spread all over the globe without a major effort or with very limited additional costs (Plume & van Weijen, 2014). Science production is not only more distributed than some decades ago, but also is more collaborative, where more and more academic publications are written in co‐authorship. However, the expansion is not only in terms of volume but there is also a growing recognition of the importance to move towards a more trans‐ disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge production (Gibbs, 2015); (Enright & Facer, 2016). All these factors are also impacting the increasingly accelerated renovation of knowledge. Due to the high volume of new knowledge been used, is practically impossible to keep up with the path of innovation. Moreover, the expansion of new autonomoussystem (artificial intelligence) capable of recognizing and interpreting text, sound, and image, is also opening a whole new frontier in terms of artificial forms of new knowledge production, dissemination, validation and application (Kodratoff & Michalski, 2014).

4. New means of knowledge recognition: taking into account some of the drivers and trends already mentioned (a growing demand, the commodification of knowledge, more distributed ways of accessing knowledge, flexible forms of learning, etc.) it can be argued that the forms and mechanisms to assess, validate, and recognize knowledge are also changing. This does not mean that the traditional forms of knowledge recognition (e.g. diploma, certificate) are not valid anymore, but there is a transition into new forms of assessing learning (e.g. learning analytics); new tools for assessing the impact of academic research (e.g. Almetrics) (Wilsdon et al., 2017); new devices to validate on recognize novel forms of learning as well as the development of new skills recognition ‐ e.g. Digital badges, Digital portfolios, and so on (Glover & Malone, 2014). All of these are samples of emerging avenues where knowledge is being recognized and valued as a new currency but in different ways. Today is not only relevant what knowledge do you have (or can access) but also what can you do with the knowledge (adaptive expertise, up skilling, just‐in‐time learning).

(*Redefining knowledge in the Digital Age: Internet and Social media, by: Cristobal Cobo and Martha Burkle).